June unemployment rate rises to 9.3 percent in Kalamazoo / Portage area

Jonathon Gruenke / GazetteBart Vela of Allied Roofing heats up tar to 500 degrees before tarring the roof of El Sol Elementary School on July 19. Seasonal work helped expand the total number of jobs in the Kalamazoo/Portage area in June, although layoffs in the education sector caused the area's unemployment rate to rate from 8.7 percent in May to 9.3 percent in June.

KALAMAZOO — The summertime reduction in jobs at area colleges and schools was reflected in the June unemployment rate for the Kalamazoo/Portage area.

The rate represents a civilian workforce of 171,900 people, with approximately 16,000 workers looking for employment. The overall civilian workforce (those employed, plus those looking for jobs) grew, however, by 3,400 people from May to June.

Leonidas Murembya, the state’s labor market analyst for Southwest Michigan, said June is the month when layoffs of part-time school personnel and the rush of students and others to find summer jobs pushes the unemployment rate of most areas of the state, even though the overall number of jobs may have grown.

In his monthly report for the area, Murembya wrote that the number of nonfarm payroll jobs in the Kalamazoo-Portage MSA rose by 1,800 from May to June, “in spite of a job cut of 800 in local education, due to the summer layoff of part-time support staff. The area registered a 1,100 job gain in leisure and hospitality. Manufacturing added 500 jobs in June.”

He said other sectors with job additions from May to June included construction, professional and business services, and retail trade.

“Over the year, (comparing June 2011 to June 2010) professional and business services recorded a job addition of 1,300,” he continued. “Employment in leisure and hospitality jumped by 1,200 over the year. Construction and manufacturing added 600 jobs each, while employment in private education and health services was up by 500. Overall, payroll jobs in Kalamazoo rose by 3,700 above June 2010 levels.”

Focusing on the private education and health care services sector, Murembya said, “while many other sectors have been hard hit by the recent economic downturn, employment in the private education and health care sector has continued to record job growth over the past decade. Between 2002 and 2011, the sector added 1,600 jobs in the Kalamazoo metro area; 600 jobs each in Battle Creek and Jackson, and 400 in Benton Harbor.”

The needs of retiring baby boomers has been credited for the growth in healthcare employment, he wrote. Growth in the private education sector was attributed to an increased willingness by job hunters to acquire more marketable skills and the availability of funding to retrain displaced workers.

The state reported more summer and seasonal job searching led to an increase in the civilian labor force in 10 of the 12 regional labor markets it tracks. Labor force expansion ranged from 50 in Branch County to 2,600 in Kalamazoo County.

Here are June unemployment rates for surrounding counties:

• Allegan County: 9.5 percent in June, up from 9.0 percent in May, down from 11.8 percent in June 2010.

• Barry County: 7.6 percent in June, up from 7.4 percent in May, down from 10.1 percent in June 2010.

• Calhoun County: 9.6 percent in June, up from 9.2 percent in May, down from 11.1 percent in June 2010.

• Kalamazoo County: 9 percent in June, up from 8.4 percent in May, down from 10.8 percent in June 2010.

• St. Joseph County: 10.5 percent in June, up from 9.9 percent in May, down from 12 percent in June 2010.

• Van Buren County: 10.4 percent in June, up from 9.7 percent in May, down from 12.5 percent in June 2010.

• State of Michigan: 11 percent in June, up from 10.3 percent in May, down from 12.6 percent in June 2010.

• United States.: 9.3 percent in June, up from 8.7 percent in May, down from 9.6 percent in June 2010.